Readers’ Rods August 2013

Len Tumidalsky, from Boise, Idaho, sent us this picture of his then-19-year-old uncle, Jim Brewer, who paid $1,100 for this custom shoebox convertible in 1956. He purchased it from a kid about the same age whose father owned a speed shop on Wilshire Boulevard in L.A. It was pearl white, de-chromed, with electric doors and trunklid, a louvered hood, frenched headlights and taillights, and had a 1954 Pontiac grille and 1955 Pontiac side trim with Olds hubcaps. Underhood was a full race Flathead with aluminum heads and four 97s. The interior was blue with white tuck 'n' roll inserts and door panels.

Tumidalsky told us, "My uncle worked at Douglas Aircraft making $1.80 per hour and had just sold his 1954 Corvette to one of his coworkers to buy the convertible. He had it for about a year then sold it because of the high maintenance and speeding tickets, then bought a 1955 Oldsmobile for cruising to work. He once raced the actor Glen Ford in a white T-bird one night on Van Nuys Boulevard, while driving the shoebox, which apparently was featured in a magazine in 1955." Anyone remember which magazine?

2/7

Frank CareyWest Melbourne, Florida1934 Ford Coupe

Frank Carey writes, "In 1957, when still a teenager, I bought this 1934 coupe project. It was channeled about a foot, had a dropped axle—one of the early 'stretch' jobs—and was plumbed for hydraulic brakes. It still had the original drivetrain. I soon found a very good grille and a 265 small-block that I adapted to the original trans. The only engine mods were a trio of 97s and a Corvette distributor.

"I ran it in C/Altered at the old Montgomery, New York, dragstrip where I was also the flagman, and turned a ho-hum 16 seconds flat. I painted it gray primer with a vacuum cleaner that had some kind of mothball spraying attachment. A friend smuggled it out of his house without his mother's knowledge. We shot three cars that afternoon!

"Adding cycle fenders and wiring it for lights, I inexplicably passed the New Jersey motor vehicle inspection and was on the roads of Essex County, where there were very few other rods on the road. Early on I broke the trans and being unable to find one of the popular LaSalle units, opted for the Hot Rod magazine–recommended Buick Roadmaster trans. This I was able to adapt to both the bellhousing and the original torque tube by using my father's drill press, and following the HRM article, I never had another trans problem.

"By the late 1950s I was no longer able to pass the state inspection and sold the car to a guy from Brooklyn who said he was going to make it into an all-out drag car with center steering. I never saw or heard of it again. I went on to build a Model A roadster pickup that I kept for about 30 years, which was followed by a 1937 sedan that I still have after 15 years."

3/7

Ed GallagherParker, Colorado1932 Ford Roadster

Starting with a rusty original 1932 chassis that had been used as a Nebraska hayride, Ed Gallagher built this 1932 roadster. It has a Brookville body, but the hood, grille, firewall, radiator, and frontend are all original 1932 parts. He built the roadster himself, though Aaron's Machine, in Roseville, California, rebuilt the 81A Flathead, which uses a pair of Stromberg 97s on an Edmunds intake, and Edelbrock "block letter" heads. A 1939 transmission and 1936 banjo rearend complete the drivetrain.